Furuba Trail
by airumel
Summary: While on vacation, Tohru and the gang get sucked into the world of everybody's favorite PC game, The Oregon Trail. Now, they have to beat the game without dying to return to their world. Beware of crossovers!
1. Prologue: Never Press Download

**Author's Note: ** Hello! This is the first chapter of my first story! Although this prologue is short, there will be more chapters up quite soon. Enjoy!

Prologue

Otherwise Known as NEVER CLICK DOWNLOAD

It was another bright, sunny, summer day for the Sohma family (plus Tohru) at the summer cottage. Everyone had been enjoying a, well, a little too perfect day. Everyone was getting along, even Kyo and Yuki, who were having a fishing competition at the lake. So far neither of the two boys had caught anything; not even something that wasn't a fish. Since this could hardly be called a fishing competition, they mentally dubbed it the "who-can-remain-fishing-contently-the-longest" competition.

Back at the house Momiji was trying to decide what game to play next.

"Hey, what about this one?" asked Tohru, smiling as always as she handed the game to Momiji. Momiji didn't even look at the title of the game; he just noticed it was a computer game and readily replied, "O.K.!"

"Hey, Ha'ri?" yelled Momiji as he looked for the doctor of the family and the only one who brought a laptop on vacation with him.

"Ha'ri?" he yelled again as he dashed through the summer house.

"Hey, Aaya, have you seen Ha'ri?"

"He went to go see how my dear brother and Kyo are doing." Replied the silver-haired guy (who looked like he was wearing a dress or fashion from a different dimension). Momiji didn't say anything as he rushed to the front door. As he opened it a "Hello Momiji" came from the halfway open door.  
"Oh, hi Kureno," said Momiji, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm just returning Hatori's computer to the house, he said something about someone wanting to use it, but he didn't want anyone to disturb him right now."

"O.K." said Momiji calmly. "I'll take it for you". Momiji took the computer and dashed back to the room where he had left Tohru.

"Momiji, be careful!" Shouted Kureno, but to no avail. No one ever managed to keep the blonde haired rabbit-boy from being reckless.

After five minutes of setup and installing the game, Tohru and Momiji had been joined by Kisa and Hiro. "So, what pointless game are we playing today?" demanded Hiro.

"Hiro, be nice" protested Kisa quietly. Just as soon as Hiro was about to ask again the game title menu popped up while playing that fiddle tune that everyone who plays computer games in elementary school knows.

"The Oregon Trail." exclaimed Hiro sarcastically, "Is this some kind of joke?"  
"I like this game." said Kisa happily.  
"All right, I'll play." said Hiro.

A few hours later the foursome had managed to travel the trail numerous times, but only had one successful trip all the way to the destination.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Tohru.  
"What's what?" asked Hiro.

"This." She pointed to the screen of the computer that had one of those 'error' boxes on it.

"Well, what does it say, sissy?" asked Kisa.

"Congratulations, you have a very high score! Would you like to download the realistic version?" read the box.

"Let me see." Said Momiji. He scanned through the options and clicked 'O.K.' A box came up with the word 'downloading…' flashing. Ten seconds later the download was complete. 'Would you like to play now?' read the box.

"Sure!" said Momiji as he clicked 'yes'. A bright pink flash engulfed the room and the surrounding area.  
"What is this ominous light that threatens to engulf us?" asked Hatori, as he was distracted from watching the sort-of-fishing contest.

"What?" said Kyo and Yuki in perfect unison. Before Hatori could repeat himself he, along with the rest of the family, and Tohru, vanished.

**Author's Note: **So did you like it? Review please! More will be up soon!


	2. I Don't Think We're in Japan Anymore

**Author's Note: **Back. Excuse the formatting in this and all following chapters; my computer has special needs (in other words, it needs some mental help). Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed so efficiently! I appreciate it!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fruits Basket, the Oregon Trail game, or any protozoans (you'll understand later).

Chapter 1

I Don't Think We're in Japan Anymore

"Ouch!" yelled most of the family as they landed in a heap outside of a large colonial-style house.

"Ow, will you get off of m-" started Kyo, before realizing that none other than Akito had landed on him.

"Well, if it isn't the stupid cat I've landed on." Kyo remained still and silent to avoid any more humiliation in front of the family.

"Where are we?" Asked Shigure.

"Well, by the looks of it, I'd say we're in the 1800s in the U.S.A. somewhere." replied Hatori. Before anyone else could say anything, an old guy who looked a little too modern compared with his surroundings came up to them.

"Hello, and welcome to the reality version of the Oregon Trail. Here you will be able to experience it for yourself. Everything, the good things as well as the bad, is real. Death is a very common event in this game and anyone who dies can't come back until the game is over. The only way out of here is to finish or have everyone die. If you do make it, you get $1,000 in any currency for every person in your caravan still breathing." The old man paused. "Any questions?" he asked.

"How many people to a wagon?" Asked Kureno. "Oh, did I forget that? Well, I did; I seem to do that a lot since-"

"GET ON WITH IT!" Yelled Rin; whose patience had run out at just about the second the pink light had 'ruined' her walk with Haru. The old man gave her the I'm-so-hurt-look, sighed, and continued.

"Five people per wagon, twenty oxen maximum, no more than 1,500 pounds of supplies and no more than 200 pounds of food per hunting trip, anything else?"

There was a long silence. "No, well then, here are the papers for the house." He handed the papers to Kisa since she was the closest person to him. "You'll find the wagons outside tomorrow. Be kind to your neighbors; they're also players. Everyone you meet will be a player. If you lose someone and find a different person stranded, you may take them along with you." With that, the old man vanished with a BANG!

All of a sudden, the streets became alive with other people all scurrying about.

"I don't think we're in Japan anymore…" said Tohru, still unsure as to what to make of this situation.

"No, really." retorted Hiro.

"Kisa, may I have those papers?" Asked Hatori.

"O.K." said Kisa as she handed them over. Hatori started reading them. He stopped suddenly.

"That can't be right…" he muttered.

"May I see them?" asked Yuki politely. He read the papers and yelled, "…No!"

"What?" exclaimed everyone else but Kyo, who was still crushed by the unwilling-to-move Akito.  
"According to these papers-" started Hatori,

"I won't let him do this." said Yuki,

"-the house and everything belong to Ayame." Finished Hatori.

"Really?" asked Aaya, trying to be modest. Hatori nodded.

"All right!" yelled Aaya. The passer-bys on the street didn't say anything; similar things had already happened to most of them.

"Why is this happening?" moaned Yuki. He still didn't get along with his older brother and had been avoiding him all vacation.

"Hey! I'm the head of the family!" an angered Akito yelled. A passer-by, whose appearance suggested he had just arrived from a medieval-like world, approached him.

"At least your house doesn't belong to a protozoan." He said and walked off, leaving Akito speechless.

"According to this paper, everyone must listen to everything I say unless they are my age or older." read Ayame.  
"Nooooo!" yelled Yuki in a very dramatic way.

"This is going to be so much fun!" said Tohru.

"It also says that dressing like the people of this time is required, as soon as you reach the second fort. You must wear these clothes unless you don't have enough money; then you may wear your regular outfits, they don't want any naked people running around. If you do run around without clothes on other than to bathe, you're disqualified." Ayame paused to glance at everyone's bored faces, Yuki's glare, and Kyo's must-resist-destroying-Akito look. "My first order," Aaya put an extra emphasis on the last word, "will be that Akito cannot use Kyo as a piece of furniture."   
"What!" yelled Akito, who had never been bossed around by anyone before, let alone Ayame. "Fine." Akito got off Kyo and went to stand by Yuki and glare at Aaya with him. Yuki, of course, slowly edged away from his arch-nemesis.   
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go inside our new home for now!" exclaimed Ayame.

After everyone figured out what part of the floor they were claiming (why bother with the furniture if you're leaving the day after tomorrow?) and put out their old-fashioned sleeping bags they had found, everyone said goodnight and went to sleep.

**Author's Note: **Well, there ya go! Review, s'il vous plait, and until next time, au revoir!


	3. Of Archeologists, Villains, and Shamans

**Author's Note: ** This chapter contains crazy neighbors that most of you probably do not know. I'm sorry, but just deal with it for this chapter, they don't come back that much and I'll try to avoid using them too much. If you want certain characters to appear, request it and I'll see what I can do. Oh, another thing: I've made an error; in the previous chapter I have something about leaving in two days, well, it's three now… I over-fixed this. Stupid me. Anyway, enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Fruits Basket, The Oregon Trail, Tales of Symphonia, Shaman King, W.I.T.C.H., or The Winx Club.

Chapter 2

Of Archeologists, Villains, and Shamans

After having been transported to the reality version of the Oregon Trail, the Sohma family was finding things very far from normal, so they were hoping for some regular neighbors. Unfortunately for them, the neighbors were not exactly what they had hoped for. The morning after their arrival they set out to meet these people who were almost as crazy as them.

"Helloooo! Anyone home?" yelled Ayame in his most obnoxious voice on the front door step of the left neighbor's house.

"Hang on a moment please!" said a muffled voice from inside. The door opened and a white-haired half-elf emerged. "Hello." She said.

"Hello!" said Ayame "We're your new neighbors and we thought we'd say hi." He went on to introduce every member of the family.

"My name is Raine," the half-elf introduced herself after all fifteen of the neighbors. "I was transported here by myself and I'm planning on traveling alone."  
"Really?" Asked Ayame.  
"Yes, I'm hoping finding some marvelous fossils in this 'unexplored' terrain." As Raine went off on a long explanation of the significance of fossils to understanding the past. Shigure and all the Sohmas left and went to the next house, while Tohru listened to the entire lecture and said

"Wow, that sounds like it's really important!" which got Raine giving the extended version of the lecture.

Over at the right neighbors' house the Sohmas were having a completely different experience. "We all decided to travel together, but personally I'm trying to find ways to lose everyone" said Phobos, the tall guy with a lot of whitish hair. "I need to get back to Meridian and plot my sister's demise."

"That… sounds like fun" said Shigure, who was doing the introductions for this house.

"Well, if the guardians weren't in my away it might be a little more fun." Phobos admitted.

"Maybe we should find some way to team up when we get back." suggested Darcie, the only girl member of the caravan, "I've got almost the same problem." She was wearing what they called fashion in her dimension; a sleeveless shirt and purple flared pants. She looked very out of place next to Phobos in his robes.

"Teaming up is for the weak, all you need is a good deception" said the third member, an angel by the name of Remiel who was also wearing a robe.  
"I thought you ad five members in your wagon" said Shigure, trying to change the subject.

"Yes we do, the other two are inside sleeping already." Replied Remiel.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, but we still have things to do before we can call it a day" said Shigure as he and the thirteen other members of the family went to the next house. The sun was just starting to set when the Sohmas left the second neighbors' house and Tohru was still where they had left her that morning.

It was Hatori's turn for introductions at the next house. Being the responsible adult he was; he knocked on the door.

"In a moment!" yelled a man's voice from inside. "Eliza, will you get the door?" As the door opened a lady wearing a pink nurse's outfit stepped out and stood there.

"Hello. We're the neighbors from across the street." Hatori stated, trying to be as neighborly as possible. The woman stood there silent and emotionless.

_Did I say something to offend her? _Hatori thought. A few seconds later the man that had been yelling emerged from the house wearing sort-of a doctor's outfit, except his outfit was ripped in several places.   
"Hello," he said, "my name is Faust VIII and this," he indicated the silent woman "is my wife Eliza". Hatori introduced the family and the still-absent Tohru.

"I see you are a doctor." Said Faust.

"Yes I am." Replied Hatori before engaging in a very long conversation of doctor stuff like what techniques they used and where they went to school. After they had been standing there for five minutes, patiently waiting for Hatori to be done talking to Faust, the other three residents came back from shopping, only to find that their doorway was blocked by a large group of people.

"Oh, hello." said the teenage girl with pointy green hair and a British accent.

"I wasn't aware that we would be having visitors." said a man whose appearance suggested he was a zombie, but his behavior was much more human-like.

"Out of my way!" yelled the third, a kid with a pointy black hairstyle and another British accent.

"Len, that's no way to treat our neighbors from across the street." remarked Faust.

"You kinda look like a zombie." Said Momiji to the guy described as being zombie-ish.  
"I guess I am kind of a zombie," he replied, "seeing as I'm dead."

"These are the other three members of my wagon, Jun, Lee Bi Long, and the short one is Len." Faust introduced his companions.

"What do you mean already dead?" inquired Momiji, completely ignoring the introductions.

"His soul uses a different body that was made for him," said Len matter-of-factly, slightly irked. "Eliza is also dead, but she's still using her own body."

"What?" said the entire family. "Well, for non-shamans, I would imagine this to be surprising." mentioned Faust. As this conversation dragged on, no one noticed that Tohru was still talking to Raine until the sun was setting. The Sohmas said their goodbyes, retrieved Tohru, and went to bed.

**Author's Note: **Review please! The next chapter will be up soon! Thanks to everyone who reviewed before!


	4. Splitting up and Shopping

Chapter 3

Splitting Up and Shopping

_**Author's Note**: Yes, I know that there is not a job of tailor on the Oregon Trail game, I wrote these chapters before I sent the wagons across. I'll let you know when the very game-influenced part comes. From here on chapters get much longer, so things might not be put up as fast. Sorry… One more thing, Rotava is not me! One more thing, the amounts of money are not exactly what they are in the game and everyone gets the same amount of supplies to start with. Now, did I forget anything? _

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fruits Basket or the Oregon Trail game.

"Gooooooood moorrnnniiinnngggg!" Yelled Ayame at about 4:00 AM. A bunch of moans were heard from the family, not used to getting up this early.

"What are thinking, getting us up this damn early!" yelled a very grumpy Kyo.

"Now Kyonkitchi," a very hyper Aaya admonished, "I have stayed up all night thinking about how to split us up and I have now come to a decision." Everyone decided that this might be a little more important than their sleep. "It goes like this:" he held up a piece of paper:

Wagon 1 Wagon 2 Wagon 3

Ayame Hatori Shigure

Yuki Momiji Akito

Tohru Kyo Kureno

Kisa Kagura Haru

Hiro Ritsu Rin

"But Aaya! Why did you split us up?" whined Shigure.

"Hatori's idea." Quickly replied Ayame to stop his friend's whining.

Hatori sighed, "Since the heads of the caravans must have a profession it was the only reasonable way. I'm a doctor, Aaya's a tailor, and since there wasn't an option for a novelist, Shigure is a banker."

"Why did I get stuck with Momiji?" Inquired Kyo.

"It was either him, Yuki, or Akito." Answered Hatori, "I thought it'd be better this way."

"Isn't this nice Kyo, my love, we get to be together!" shouted Kagura as she hugged Kyo.

"Get off me!" yelled Kyo as he struggled to detach himself from his rabid cousin.

"My love, what's wrong with spending time with me!" demanded Kagura as she threw him across the room. Fortunately there was not any furniture to break, and all of the other members of the family were so used to this behavior that they simply ducked as an airborne Kyo rocketed over their heads.

"I'm sorry you will have to put up with me!" hysterically yelled Ritsu to Momiji.

"It's O.K. Ritsu, this will be fun!"

Rin was silent as she glared at Hatori's and Ayame's list; she hated Akito; most likely more than the rest of the family.

"I'm aware that I've left a few of you with people you don't exactly like, so under my supreme authority, Akito is not allowed to be mean in any way to anyone!" bellowed Ayame. The statement echoed across the room several times due to the lack of furniture as Ayame stood there as if he had just given the Gettysburg Address.

_What!_ Thought Akito, _I've never been mean to anyone!_

A few hours later found Ayame's wagon at the only store in town: Convenient Supplies for the Just Starting Traveler.

"Well, let's go see what we can get!" stated Aya.

"Hello and welcome to Convenient Supplies for the Just Starting Traveler," rushed the shopkeeper, who looked like all of her dreams were coming true right at that moment. She took a big gasp of air and continued, "how may I help prepare you for your journey?" The shopkeeper was a high school age brunette of average height. Ayame read her nametag: Traveling Supplies Inc. Rotava, super service award. Whatever that meant.

"What are you selling?" Politely asked Yuki.

"For convenience we have three options: the cheap package, the medium package, and the exceedingly expensive package. All include enough supplies for five people." Rotava stated as if this was something she'd said about 45 million times already.

"How much do each of the packages cost?" asked Ayame.

"In order: $25.00, $250.00, $2,500.00." said the shopkeeper.

Ayame turned to his party.

"How much money do we have?" Asked a suspicious Yuki.

"Let's see." Aaya pulled out the money he got for being a tailor, "$150.00".

"We have enough to buy the cheap one." Tohru commented encouragingly, "I'm sure we can make it on this much."

"Nonsense!" remarked Ayame "We can buy two of the cheap ones to make up for it."

"I'm sorry," apologized the shopkeeper sarcastically, "store policy, one package to a wagon." Rotava pointed to a sign above her head. It read: ONE PACKAGE PER WAGON, CASH ONLY. ALL PROBLEMS ARE TO BE TAKEN OUTSIDE AND DEALT WITH. Several scorch marks surrounded the border of the sign.

"That's outrageous!" Yelled Ayame. "I demand to speak with the owner!"

"I am the owner." Remarked Rotava as she grinned evilly.

"Fine!" We'll go somewhere else." The silver haired man stormed out of the shop, leaving Kisa, Hiro, and Tohru unsure of where they were supposed to be.

"Wait! Ayame…" Tohru helplessly called after him.

Yuki sighed and said, "We'll take one cheap package please. "

Around noon Hatori's wagon group wandered into the same store. "Hello, welcome to Convenient Supplies for the Just Starting Traveler" said Rotava the shopkeeper, her eye lit up at the sight of who had just entered the store. She then gave the entire speech about what the options were. Hatori, being the smart guy he was, bought a cheap package and left before any protests could occur. Well, almost.

"How the hell is anyone supposed to afford the other two packages?" Kyo yelled.

"Ahahaha hahahaha" laughed Rotava.

"What's so funny?" he demanded, but the shopkeeper pointed to the last line on her sign and continued to laugh until she collapsed on the floor from lack of oxygen.

"Hurry up Kyo!" cheerfully yelled Momiji, who was running in circles outside.

"I'm sorry!" screamed none other than Ritsu, "It's all my fault!"

"Kyo my love, hurry up please." Requested Kagura.

"I'm so happy!" Kagura declared as she ran towards Kyo, "Kyo is actually coming for me!" She then threw him at the store and everyone was forced to wait for poor Kyo to regain consciousness.

After Hatori's wagon finally returned from the store, Shigure's wagon went there. After listening to Rotava give the same speech, Kureno asked "How much money do we have?"

"$300.00" replied Shigure without a moment's hesitation.

"Let's buy the middle one." Suggested Haru.

"O.K." said Shigure. He turned to Rotava, "One middle package!"

"Thank you very much!" said Rotava as she handed them a package.

"Hmm?" said Shigure as he always did, "I thought it would be bigger."

"Don't worry," said the shopkeeper, "everything else has automatically been put in your wagon for you." She thought for a second, "You get the same amount of supplies, but you get discounts in the future for buying the bigger package when you use this." She handed Shigure a card. "Don't lose it!" she yelled suddenly.

"O.K." said Shigure as he put the card into one of many secret pockets he had.

"Maybe I should hold onto that card, Shigure." Requested Kureno.

"No one trusts me!" Shigure whined as if the entire world was against him as he handed the card to Kureno.

"Have a good trip!" shouted Rotava to the group as they left her shop.


	5. And They're Off!

Chapter 4

…And They're Off!

_**Author's Note: **You know what? I feel like telling the world this right now. I have traveled across the Oregon Trail part of the US many times, O.K. three times, but I'm going again! I've just never made it to Oregon! I want to go there… I'm a history freak by the way. Where I live isn't the best for history; really, it's kind of boring, but that's what everyone thinks about their hometown. A quick note, I am aware that you can't hunt a certain animal in the game that I've used. _

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fruits Basket, the Oregon Trail game, Final Fantasy VII, or Final Fantasy Tactics.

Later the same day, everyone was anxiously waiting to be able to start on the trail.

"I bet that we're going to make it all the way to, uh, wherever we're going!" declared Shigure.

"We're headed for Oregon." said Hatori.

"Oregon? Why not California?" Whined Shigure.

"Because the game is called 'The Oregon Trail'." Said a starting-to-be-very-annoyed Hatori.

"Well, I bet my wagon can get to Oregon faster than both of yours. Isn't that right Yuki?" called Ayame. Yuki glared.

"Leave me out of this." He said.

"What about you Kyo? Aren't you going to try to beat Yuki?" mused Shigure.

"I sure- wait, what do you mean try? I'M GOING TO WIN!!!" He yelled, "Hear that rat boy, you're going down!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, you stupid cat." Said Yuki acidly as he glared at Kyo instead of his brother.

"Bzzt, Bzzt" went the air around the two as everyone within two feet got a little shock.

"Well, we'll be leaving in the morning, so everyone can do whatever they want until then." Yelled Ayame to the family. Seeing as it was around 11:00 PM, everyone went to bed, wondering what adventures were awaiting them in the morning.

Ayame, wanting to get a big head start on everyone else, silently woke his wagon group up at one in the morning and went outside to wait by the wagon labeled 'Ayame Sohma'. All the supplies had been thrown into the wagon haphazardly, so as he waited for the party, Ayame organized the supplies.

"Good morning Ayame." Said a cheerful Tohru, who had been followed by Kisa.

"Good morning Grandpa Ayame." Said Kisa.

Hiro came out of the house a few minutes later, but didn't say anything.

"It would appear that Yuki isn't as awake as I thought he was." said Ayame, disappointed that his brother wasn't a morning person.

"I'll go find him." Offered Tohru, but there was no need to, for a half awake Yuki emerged from the house just as Tohru had turned around.

"Well, now that my dear brother has joined us we can go." Started Aaya, "Who wants to drive?"

Everyone was silent.

"Hmm, nobody wants to? Well that's good because I wanted to!" Ayame yelled as he jumped into the driver's seat.

Woken up by the clattering of wagons being driven by oxen, Shigure decided that there was no better time to leave than the present as he woke everyone in his wagon up. As soon as he was outside he realized the Ayame had already left and so had the archeologist neighbor. "Well, at least we're not the last ones starting." He thought to himself as his crew assembled in front of the caravan. "Kureno, why don't you start off driving and I'll take over at lunch," suggested Shigure.

"Uh, O.K." replied Kureno, wondering how you drive a team of six oxen.

"I would like a turn as well." said Haru.

"Are you feeling sorry for your fellow oxen?" teased Akito.

"I guess so." Haru replied.

"Then Haru, you can have my turn!" Happily stated Shigure, glad he wouldn't have to drive.

"Can we go? This town makes me sick." Said Rin, who had been silent until now.

Shigure stared at her, wondering how she could say that about this quaint little town. "O.K." He said.

Kureno got into the driver's seat and everyone else clambered into the wagon labeled 'Shigure's Wagon' and started off.

It was 6:00am when Hatori woke up to Kyo's raving. "That damn rat got a head start!"

Ritsu, to no surprise, was frantically apologizing again for something out of his control.

"I'm sorry for letting them get ahead of you!" He yelled, waking up the remaining neighbors. Momiji woke up and was trying to get to where Hatori was sitting when he fell into a flailing Ritsu. Ritsu stopped and became calm upon impact and caught Momiji before he hit the floor.

"Thanks Ritsu." Mumbled the blonde boy as Ritsu helped him up.

"Um… you're… welcome…" Ritsu shyly mumbled.

"Kyo, calm down." Said Hatori, "If they left in the dark, then they didn't get very far or are already lost."

"G'morning" said a still drowsy Kagura, who had just woken up.

"We should go now since everyone's up." Said Hatori. Everyone went outside and got into the wagon, and of course, they made Hatori drive.

Sure enough, as Hatori had said, Shigure had already gotten lost. He had told Kureno to drive to Oregon, but Kureno had just as much of an idea of where it was as Shigure. Kureno had driven straight west and had lost the trail by the time the sun came up.

"How about we all get out and look for the trail?" suggested Kureno.

"That's a great idea!" replied Shigure, "I'll wait here!"

"Why?" asked Haru.

"If we all leave, who will watch the wagon?" the novelist replied.

"O.K." said Haru as he and Rin started looking for the trail.

"Don't go too far!" Yelled Shigure, who hated being alone.

"Do you want to go look for the trail, Akito?" Inquired Kureno.

"No." replied Akito.

"Do you want me to go and look for the trail?"

"No."

"Do you want to stay here with Shigure?"

"No."

"Then do you want to get out of the wagon?"

"No."

"What do you want to do?"

"Nothing." Losing his control over the family, except for Kureno, was taking effect on Akito, who had been moping ever since.

"Maybe you should try being happy." Suggested Shigure.

Akito glared.

"Er… O.K., it was just a suggestion!" he said quickly. About fifteen minutes later Rin and Haru returned. "Well?" eagerly asked Shigure.

"We're lost." Said Rin as she turned around.

"Where are you going?" asked Shigure.

"Back to look for the trail again." As she and Haru left without another word.

As for Ayame's caravan, they had managed to stay on the trail and were actually having a good time. Well, except for Hiro, and he's rarely happy. It was around noon when they heard a "Hail fellow caravaners!" It was a female voice and came from a wagon parked at the side of the road. "How goes the quest for Oregon, would you care to join us for lunch?"

"Sure!" Ayame called back.

As they pulled off the road more medieval-looking people emerged from the wagon. Three men got out of the wagon, one had very spiky blonde hair and was wearing a black outfit with a red scarf, and the other two were covered in armor and both very short. The fourth person who had been sitting outside the wagon had been the one who had called them over. She had long, striking white hair, and was wearing a brown outfit.

"Hello!" cheerfully remarked Ayame.

"Hello," said the white-haired girl, "My name's Ritz, this is Cloud, and the other two wish to remain anonymous. I haven't found out anything about them other than they're chasing a black knight. We have a fifth member, I'll go wake him up now, he's sleeping because he drove all night like a demon." As she started to climb into the wagon her companion grabbed her foot.

"Don't wake him up!" Cloud shouted at her. "He's evil!"

"That's what you think; I still think Sephiroth is a good guy. He drove all night for us!"

"Yeah, and I didn't get any sleep!"

"Oh, so it's his fault the road is bumpy! Now is it?"

"No! But you haven't seen him when he's got his sword either!"

"So what? Swords don't mean anything!"

About fifteen minutes of preparing the food, everyone sat down to eat. "This is really good!" cheerfully remarked Tohru.  
"Yes, the soup is good." added Yuki, "what kind is it?"   
"I don't know, Cloud went hunting and brought back some weird rope-like creatures." said one of the short soldiers.

"Rope-like creatures?" Ayame thought aloud.

"Snake soup?" asked Hiro.

"Is that what they are called?" Said the other solider, feeling enlightened.

Ritz sighed, "I tried to tell them that earlier, but they wouldn't listen." She was eating bread and had not touched the soup.

Ayame stared at the soup he had been eating. "Oh, well, I seem to not be hungry anymore!" he exclaimed, setting down his bowl.

"I heard that rattle snake is a delicacy back in some parts of our world." Remarked Yuki, just to annoy his brother. He continued to eat his soup.

"Is something wrong Grandpa Ayame?" asked Kisa, being a little oblivious to the problem.

"No! I'm just not hungry right now." Defended the tailor, trying to reassure her.  
Tohru wasn't sure about what to make of the situation at hand; Yuki was still eating the soup, while Ayame had stopped. The possibilities of the situation spun around in her head like a swarm of killer bees.

"Miss Honda, are you alright?" asked a concerned Yuki. This only made the thoughts swarm faster and Tohru was about to faint.

"How annoying." Remarked Sephiroth, who had been silently eating the soup until now.

"Tohru, is something wrong?" inquired Ayame, "Is it the heat? Was it the soup?"

"Sissy?" asked Kisa. Fortunately for everyone, Tohru finally was able to regain her control.

"No, everything's fine, I'm just not hungry either."

A half an hour later Ayame's wagon said its goodbyes and thanks for the wonderful soup. As they left they missed the if-I-had-my-sword…look from Sephiroth as they pulled off the side of the road and continued on the trail.

About the same time as this was happening, Hatori's caravan wasn't doing very well.

"Are we lost?" asked Momiji.

"No, we're still on the trail, as far as I can tell without a map." Replied Hatori.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Momiji was silent for a minute "Are we getting close?"

"NO!" yelled Kyo, "and don't bother asking for awhile!"

"Wahh! Kyo's being mean!" cried the rabbit boy.

"Let's all get along. We still have a long way to go." Said Hatori, hoping everyone would be quiet so he could concentrate on driving.

"I'm sorry!!!!" yelled Ritsu, "It's because of my presence that everyone is acting this way!!!"

"No it's not," calmly stated the doctor, "Kyo and Momiji never get along that well."

"Hey Hatori?" asked Kagura quietly.

"Yes?"

"Can I drive?"

"Fine." As they traded spots Kagura demanded that Kyo come and sit with her. Kyo, not wanting another fight went up front and sat next to her.

"Isn't this fun Kyo?"

"I guess." Kyo replied, wishing this would end soon. Nothing else notable happened that day.

At the conclusion of the first day, Shigure somehow had the lead, although very lost. Ayame and Hatori were about the same distance behind, but not too far behind Shigure.


	6. The Nameless Fort and River

Chapter 5

The Nameless Fort and River

_**Author's Note: **Guess what? On vacation I actually got to operate an Oregon Trail ferry used to cross rivers!!!!! O.K. so it was a replica, but it was still built the same and in the river!!!! It will be explained later in the story. This is still before I used the game for reference. Thank you to my editor, in this chapter is a part that she wrote for me. Also thanks to everyone at my lunch table for helping come up with that certain part. I just read the 14th book, was it? Well, it's got Kureno on the cover, so if Rin's personality seems off forgive me, I really didn't know much about her when I wrote this. About the random characters from other places… well, sorry if you don't know them. I DON'T KNOW ALL OF THEM AND I WROTE THE PARTS WHERE THEY ARE! I'll tell the chapter after I use them. OMG! I just heard SLEIGH RIDE! IT'S AUGUST FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! _

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fruits Basket, the Oregon Trail game, Naruto, Rotava (she owns herself), the song "Walk Like an Egyptian" or Sailor Moon.

Around midday of the 5th day, Ayame's wagon reached the first fort, which nobody really cared to remember the name of, since all they did was get some food so they wouldn't have to go hunting. As they were leaving the shop, Aaya noticed a wagon that looked familiar. "Let's go visiting after we put this stuff in the wagon!" declared Ayame.

A few minutes later…

"Hello!!!!" yelled Ayame to the oh-so-familiar-wagon. "Is anyone in there living?"

A long silence followed.

"Well, I guess not, let's see if anyone is inside." Remarked Aaya as he peered in. "Shigure!!!" He yelled as he saw his friend sleeping in the wagon.

Shigure instantly woke up at the sound of his friend's voice. "Aaya, is that really you?" he asked, "And Miss Tohru, Yuki, Kisa, and Hiro?"

"Yes it is!" Yelled the tailor.

"It seems you've had better fortune than my wagon."

"Oh?"

"Yesterday Akito caught pneumonia from standing in the rain all day, and before that Rin and Haru went missing while looking for the trail."

"Maybe they eloped!" suggested a still-cheerful Ayame.

"I think they got lost or, knowing Rin, got into a fight." replied Shigure.

Just at that moment none other than Rin and Haru appeared.

"We're back." Haru said in his monotone voice as he and Rin got back into the wagon.

"Well, maybe my luck's changing." A bewildered Shigure remarked as he stared at the two.

"I can't believe they came back." added an equally surprised Ayame.

"By the way," added the author after a short moment of thought, "where's the store? I need to see if I can get something for Akito."

"It's right in front of your wagon," said Yuki, "did you drive here in your sleep?"

"No, Kureno did."

Yuki sighed, "Convenient Supplies for the Still Getting Used to Traveling Traveler."

"That sounds familiar" muttered Shigure.

"It's run by the same lady!" said the ever-cheerful Tohru.

"Really?" asked Shigure, brightening up at the thought of the high school age shopkeeper. "I'll be going right now!" As he hopped out of the wagon Ayame could see that Kureno was fast asleep next to Akito. Akito was sleeping as well, but his breath was very raspy.

"Let's get going so that Hatori doesn't beat us!" cheered Ayame. He triumphantly led his group back to the wagon. "What's this?" questioned the tailor. A note had been left in the driver's seat, written in quick handwriting and blue ink, it read: Kyo was here, Yuki is a loser.

"That stupid cat!" Yuki ripped up the note and threw the shreds on the ground.

"Where did he get a pen from?" asked Hiro.

"Maybe Hatori had one" suggested Tohru completely ignoring Yuki by accident.

"This calls for immediate departure!" Regally declared Ayame, "Yuki, why don't you drive?"

Yuki glared, but got into the driver's seat anyways.

"Tohru, you can ride up there with him if you want."

"O.K." Everyone got in and started off in a mad pursuit of Hatori's caravan.

Meanwhile, Shigure was having a pleasant conversation with the shopkeeper, Rotava. "This morning, when I opened up the shop" she said in a very excited voice, my first customer was Krad!!!!" She did a fan girl scream, as Shigure thought "All for me high school girl!"

"And then," she added, "Hatori was here!"

"Huh," remarked Shigure, brought back from his delusions, "My relative?"

"Yep!"

"How do you know?"

"Just do."

"What did he buy?"

"Just some food."

"Oh, so what can I buy to cure pneumonia?" Shigure asked, suddenly remembering his initial purpose.

"It hasn't been invented yet."

"That's a problem, what do you suggest?"

"Well…" she thought. "…who is sick?"

"My relative, Akito." Said Shigure wondering what this had to do with a cure.

"Akito? Okay…" she said, grinning evilly. "You see, sometimes, a good scare can be just what one needs to be cured."

"So, startle him, like with hiccups?"

The grin widened. "Oh, no, much scary than that. You have to tie him to something, like, a tree, and throw knives so they almost hit him, but not quite. That should scare the pneumonia right out of him!"

"Are you sure?" Shigure asked hesitantly.

"Of course!" The grin was even wider now. "I can sell you the knives for it. Very cheap too! Just $50!"

"How much is $50?" wondered Shigure in his head, "Well, 50 yen is a bargain, so I'll do it!" "Done!" He exclaimed and took the knives and skipped out of the store, while Rotava laughed evilly to herself at how dim-witted Shigure could be.

Back at the caravan, Shigure climbed inside the wagon where Akito was lying, coughing weakly every once in a while. "Akiiito!" Shigure called. "I have a cure for you!"

"Shut up." Said Akito, miserably. "Why are you so loud?"

Becoming serious, Shigure said, "Because I'm happy you're going to be well again of course. They haven't invented the cure yet, and Hatori isn't around, so this is our best shot. Do we have any rope?" he asked Haru, who was passing by the outside. Haru shrugged and kept walking. Shigure also shrugged and looked around until he spotted a coil of rope sitting in the corner. He grabbed it. "Let's go Akito! We're gonna get you cured!"

Outside, they tied Akito to a nearby tree. "Just HOW is this supposed to cure me?" Akito asked suspiciously.

"Don't you worry, Akito. I've got it covered!" cried Shigure as he opened up the set of knives. Closing one eye, he aimed at the tree. The knife, when he threw it, spun off to the left and buried itself in the side of the wagon. "Oh, shoot," Shigure cackled, "I'll have to try again!"

Rin, Haru, and Kureno stood nearby. None of them really seemed to want to help either side, although both Haru and Rin were chanting silently in their heads for Shigure to kill Akito.

Meanwhile, Shigure was still throwing knives; though every time he aimed at the tree, it went swerving off to the side. Finally, Rotava stepped out of her shop, sighing, and grabbed the box from Shigure. "Like this, Shi-chan." She said, and hurled a knife. It lodged an inch away from Akito's face, which froze and turned paler than usual.

"Oh, I see!" said Shigure, who didn't, and tried again. This time, though, he got distracted midway through the throw, and his aim was entirely off. In a (possibly) freak coincidence, the knife struck the tree so close to Akito's head that he lost a few hairs in the process.

Rotava laughed. "You seem to be the most counterintuitive person I know." she said. "If you aim for the actual target it will be entirely off. But if you aim entirely off, your projectile will be dead on." She winked at Akito. "And I could mean that literally."

Akito, understandably, started freaking out, while he was thrashing in his bonds, Rotava grabbed the rest of the knives and threw them, one after another, at the tree. They hit the tree on all sides of Akito. He stopped thrashing abruptly.

Kureno frowned and strode over to Akito.

"Is he dead?" Rotava asked, almost hopefully.  
"No," said Kureno after a moment. "he just passed out."

"Poo…" muttered Rotava under her breath. She walked over to the tree and yanked the knives out, one by one. "Untie him. Clearly this cure isn't working. I think I have another one, though." She walked back into her shop.

When she returned, Akito was still unconscious. He was lying on the ground next to the wagon. Rotava briskly walked over, yelled "WAKE UP!" and dumped a bucket of ice water on his head.

Akito gasped and spluttered.

Rotava threw the bucket aside and picked up a large stick. Before Akito could get up Rotava placed her foot on his chest and pushed him back onto the ground. "Demon." She hissed at him. "How long have you been inside Akito?"

Akito stared, dumbfounded.

"Answer me!" she shouted.

"What's happening?" asked Haru, poking his head out of the wagon.

"Akito has been possessed by a demon." She declared. "We need to get it out."

"Suddenly everything is much more clear." Haru muttered, disappearing back inside.

"And will that cure him?" Shigure asked.

"No, but it will make it so we CAN cure it!" Rotava answered cheerfully. "Luckily, I have the skills to properly perform an exorcism!"  
"Great!" Shigure enthused.

"Tie him up again, except this time, he needs to be under a cliff." Seeing that Kureno was about to comment, she added, "Don't ask me why, it's just a rule of exorcism. Just count yourselves lucky that there's a cliff right there." When Akito was secured to the cliff face, which stretched as far as the eye could see upwards, Rotava drew a large circle around the 'demon' Akito, and a bigger one around that. Then, about three feet away, she drew a circle around herself. "Stay back!" she ordered the other caravaners. They did so, and as Rotava made markings on the inside of her circle, ominous thunderclouds gathered overhead. "What perfect weather for an exorcism." Rotava remarked cheerfully, ignoring the thunder and lightning. "I sure wouldn't want to be up on that cliff right now!"

_**Meanwhile, on the top of the cliff…**_

"What perfect weather for taking over the world." Said a tall blond man with towering white wings. He stood near the edge, next to a large boulder, with a white feather in his hand. "Don't you agree, Master Satoshi?"

"Don't get carried away, Krad." Said the boy inside his head.

Krad smirked. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't." Just then, lighting shot out of the sky and struck the boulder next to him. He leapt out of the way with a scream and landed on his back in the dirt. Satoshi was making no effort to hide his laughter. "Shut up!" Krad yelled. "Stop laughing!" In his anger, he blasted the boulder off the edge. Then, for good measure, he kicked a small pebble over.

_**Back to the exorcism… **_

Rotava was beginning an incantation that sounded suspiciously made-up. With her eyes closed, she held out her arms and one random word after another. "Squiggle, mop, cobra, nail polish, fountain pen…" About halfway through the word "handbag" a large boulder fell directly in front of Akito. His eyes grew so wide; it looked like they were about to fall out of his head. He swayed where he stood, just enough so that his head collided with a pebble that was also mysteriously falling out of the sky. He crumpled onto the ground. For a moment, nobody moved, and then Shigure and Kureno rushed over.

Kureno held Akito's wrist. "I don't feel a pulse…" he said. "I think he's… dead!"

Around the same time as the exorcism-gone-wrong, Hatori's caravan was making good progress. The weather was nice, the road was not as bumpy as it had been earlier by the fort, and Momiji was singing something, but no one was listening. Hatori was trying to explain how to drive to Ritsu when Kyo yelled, "That damn rat's caught up to us!"

Sure enough, there was Yuki driving a fast-approaching caravan with Tohru sitting next to him waving.

"DRIVE FASTER!" yelled Kyo, as he watched in dismay as Yuki caught up. Slowly he realized that his wagon wasn't moving. "WHY AREN'T WE MOVING?" he asked.

"We've reached the river. If you were paying attention, then you'd know." Said Hatori.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone from both caravans was outside and looking for the person running the ferry. "Maybe he's in that little house over there?" suggested Tohru, pointing to a tiny wooden shack with a small crescent-moon for a window.

"Um, Miss Honda…" started Yuki.

"What?" she asked, as cheerful as ever.

"That's an outhouse."

Poor Tohru had never been that good with historical items such as this one. "Oh…" she said, not telling anyone she wasn't sure what it was.

"Hey Mr. Ferry-running guy? Where are you hiding?" yelled Momiji.

"I'm not hiding," said a voice. "You just aren't very observant."

Everyone looked in the direction the voice had come from. A man with spiky silver hair was sitting on top of Ayame's wagon, reading a book. Unlike everyone else they had met so far, he was wearing the clothes that were 'in fashion' for this century, which made him look rather odd with a modern-day paperback book in his hand.

"Mister Ferry-running guy?" asked Kisa.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing on top of our wagon?"

"Reading."

"Why?" Momiji asked.

"Because I want to find out what happens."

"Why?" asked the hyper rabbit.

"Because that's why you read books."

"Why?"

The man laughed, "You remind me of one of my students, which reminds me, they should be back tomorrow." He put away the book and jumped down from the wagon. "What can I do for you?" he asked. Now that he was closer, the Sohmas saw that one of the man's eyes was red and never seemed to stop analyzing even the smallest of movements they made.

"We'd like to have our wagons ferried across the river." said Hatori.

"Well, I can't help you until my students return." He grimaced, "Our last ferry had an accident. If you look at the river crossing, you'll see a long rope going across the river." He pointed at it. "When the ferry is here it's attached by a pulley and two other ropes to that long rope. A few days ago the pulley broke and the ferry washed downstream. I sent my students to retrieve it and buy some spare parts so that doesn't happen again."

"How long before it will be operational again?" asked Hatori.

"Not long." The man replied.

_**Three hours later…**_

"Hey look!" Someone's coming!" yelled Momiji as he pointed back down the trail. Sure enough a wagon was rattling along towards the crowd of people.  
"Is it Shigure?" asked Tohru, looking up from Yuki and Kyo's rock skipping contest.

"No, I think it might be one of our neighbors." Replied Kyo, also looking up along with Yuki.

As the wagon got closer, the Sohmas realized it was none other than the creepy neighbors.

"So we meet again!" yelled Ayame dramatically.

"It would appear so!" Shouted back Faust VIII.

When the wagon finally parked and everyone got out, greetings were exchanged and once again Momiji interrogated the zombie-guy.

"What's the hold up for?" Asked Ren impatiently.  
"We're waiting for a ferry," explained Yuki.

"Didn't you fools know that you can float the wagon across?" said the always-angry kid.

"No, we didn't know that."

"Then why aren't you going?"

"We're going to stay on the safe side." Added Ren's sister, which earned a glare from Ren.

"Then what are we waiting for?" yelled Ayame. "Let's float the wagon!"

"I wouldn't do that." said the ferry-running guy.

"AND WHY NOT?" asked Aaya in his super-irritating mode.

"Because the river is full of snakes and they seem to be swarming together today." He replied as he stared at the water's surface.

Ayame stared at the river, sure enough there were about 20 water snakes swimming at the surface.

"So what?" yelled Ayame defiantly. "Come on guys, let's float our wagon and watch as we beat everyone to Oregon!"

"Um… Grandpa Ayame?"

"Yes Kisa?"

"How are we going to float a wagon with six oxen and five people?" interrupted Hiro.

Aaya stood deep in thought about the problem at hand.

"We'll take more than one trip." Suggested Yuki. So the four Sohmas, plus Tohru, quickly arranged their things outside the wagon.

"They won't make it," thought Hatori, "they don't know what they're doing."

"Heh, heh, damn rat, hope you like swimming with snakes." Thought Kyo as Ayame's wagon was pushed into the water.

"Quick, get on Miss Honda!" Yelled Yuki as Tohru nearly missed jumping into the wagon and she fell in on top of Yuki.

POOF Yuki had turned into a rat.

"Oh no! Yuki! Are you okay?" Tohru asked, realizing what she'd done.

"I'm fine, but did anyone see that?"

"No, the wagon sides are high enough to block that mishap." Informed Ayame, helping Tohru off of Yuki. "Do be more careful in the future, Tohru, there won't always be wagon sides to block the view."

"Uh… Okay…" mumbled an embarrassed Tohru.

Seven trips later Ayame had successfully gotten his group across and was driving off into the sunset. Kyo was in a bad mood now that Yuki was once again in the lead and that Tohru was with him, while he was stuck with Kagura.

"Isn't the sunset beautiful, darling?" Kagura asked, attaching herself to his arm as they sat on the shore.

Hatori was standing still in shock, where he had been watching Aya drive off from. "Maybe Aaya does have some sen- no, it was just luck that's it, luck." He thought.

About 9:00 AM the next day, everyone was woken up from their late sleep by the sound of splashing water.

"Kakashi-sensei!" yelled a young girl with pink hair, she was dressed in the 'fashion' for girls during the Oregon Trail, but had torn the skirt so she could move better.

"Hey! WAKE UP ALREADY!" yelled a blonde boy from the ferry; he was around the same age as the girl and currently handing some ropes to another boy on the long rope. He had black hair, and was silently repairing the pulley and putting the ropes back in it.

"Hmm…? What is it, Sakura?" asked the spiky-haired man, waking up.

"We got the ferry!" said Sakura.

"Good, we have two wagons waiting to go across." He stood up and headed towards the ferry.

"Is Naruto still mad?"

"No, he got over wearing the strange clothes just after we left."

This pointless conversation has nothing to do with the rest of the story, so we're getting back to the Sohmas now.

"Since both of your wagons can't fit on the ferry…" Kakashi paused for dramatic effect.

"What?!" "WHAT?!" "WHAT?!" Yelled Momiji in between jumping up and down.

"You must sing karaoke to determine who goes first."

"But we got here first!" complained Kyo.

"It's sink or sing." replied Kakashi with a chuckle.

Everyone moaned at the bad joke.

"The rules are: one person sings a song that I choose and the other four people must dance."

"Maybe we should float the wagon instead." pondered Hatori, but he never got to do more than that before Momiji ran up to him.

"We have to sing this one!" said the rabbit-boy, as he pushed a piece of paper into his hand.

Hatori took the paper and read the lyrics scribbled on the paper.

"I wanna sing it!" Yelled Momiji, who was running in circles around Hatori.

"Stop shouting and running around!" Yelled Kyo as he grabbed Momiji.

"Wahh!! Kyo's being mean to me!" He frantically tried to break free from Kyo's grip.

"What song do we have?" asked Kagura, leaning over to read the paper.

"It's-"

"NOOO! I will not sing that! Nor will I dance to it!" yelled Ren from the other wagon's group huddle. He then went over to Kakashi. "You can let that group of fools go first! We refuse to subject ourselves to such humiliation!"

"All right, by the forfeit-"

"IT'S NOT FORFEIT!"

Kakashi sighed, "Fine, by the refusal of Ren, the Sohmas get to cross first."

Hatori stared in amazement at his stroke of fortune; he really didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the small portion of the family with him.

"I hope you sink." Ren grumbled as Hatori slowly drove the wagon onto the ferry.

"If that happens, Ren, we'll just be here longer." Said one of his companions.

Ren gave him the if-you-say-anything-more-I'll-destroy-you look.

On the ferry, out of earshot of the other wagon, Kagura asked "What song did we have anyways, Hatori?"

"Walk Like an Egyptian." the doctor replied.

Strange images of Hatori singing and dancing came to her head. After two minutes of a small laughing fit, she asked "Hey, ferry-driver?"

"Yes?"

"What did the other group have that was so bad?"

"You really want to know?"

"YES!" Yelled Momiji, riding inside of the wagon.

Kakashi smiled, "The Sailor Moon theme song."


	7. Of Stragglers and Tragedies

Chapter 6

Of Stragglers and Tragedies

_**Author's Note: **Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this far! It makes me so happy knowing that maybe I'm not wasting my time after all. If you for some reason haven't read the chapters before this one, what are you waiting for? GO READ THEM! This is also where I actually used results from the game. So, if your favorite character dies, I apologize. It's not completely my fault, trust me, I try to save my people, really I do. I realized I made an error in my last group of comments; the characters I didn't know about had already been used. Cloud and Sephiroth, I tried my best to include them anyways. I have a FFVII fanatic for help with that. If anyone is wondering, Ritz is from FF Tactics Advance. _

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fruits Basket, the Oregon Trail game, Naruto, Tales of Symphonia, Star Wars, or The Lion King.

_He's dead,_ thought Kureno, _What were the chances of a freak lightning storm on top of a cliff causing a boulder to fall right next to Akito and a smaller pebble hitting and killing him? Not very good_… he thought.

It was two days after the boulder incident and everyone was wondering what they were going to do now that the head of the family was 'dead', but unknown to everyone else, Akito was now floating around the dimension of Limbo.

"Limbo Akito, Limbo!" yelled some shadowy characters holding a limbo bar.

"NOOO!!!" Akito screamed.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad!" They replied.

"Yes, yes it is!" yelled Akito, who curled up into a ball. "This can't get any worse, can it?"

"But, it's not bad, the only bad thing here is that our only limbo bar is a 2x4 with rusty nails!" They paused and shrugged, "But that never hurt anyone!"

**_Back at Akito's former caravan…_**

"Does this mean we're free from the curse?" asked Rin.   
"I don't know," said Shigure, "Why don't you go find a girl, hug her, and find out for us, Haru?"

"Okay." Said Haru, he stared out of the wagon as if looking for a girl. "Hey… what's that?" he asked.

"I think it's a wagon." said a gloomy Kureno from the front seat, where he was sitting next to Rin, who was doing the driving.

"Could it be Aaya?" asked Shigure excitedly. He hung out the back of the wagon like a dog in a car.

"I doubt it. Besides, wouldn't they be moving?" Kureno paused to look.

"Hey, Rin, let's stop and see who it is!" Yelled Shigure, ignoring Kureno's comment. He had already leaped out of the wagon and landed with a 'thud' four and a half feet below.

"Okay." She replied and drove the wagon off the trail.

As they approached the wagon, it was noticeable that two of the wheels were broken beyond repair and there were no oxen to be seen.

"Hello! Anyone here?" yelled Shigure.

There was no answer.

"Hey, there's someone in here." Remarked Haru, who had climbed up the back steps of the wagon.

"Do we know them?" asked Shigure.

"No, I don't think we do."

Shigure peered into the wagon. Inside an auburn-haired man was laying motionless on the floor among a clutter of supplies. One of which was a shovel that was quite dirty, as if it had been used recently.

"Is he alive?" asked Haru.

"Yes, he's just sleeping." Said Kureno, who had climbed into the wagon along with Shigure.

"HEY! Are you alive?" shouted everyone's favorite author-turned-banker.

A moan came from the man as he slowly came to. "Mithos, Yuan, Martel, Noishe?" asked the man.

"What language is that?" Rin asked Haru. He shrugged.

"Do you understand us?" Shigure asked the man slowly.

"Yes, I do." The man sat up. He, like the shovel, was covered in dirt. Underneath all the dirt he was wearing what looked like a dark blue jumpsuit with a cape that whoever made must have left out the center of.

"Were you traveling alone?" asked Kureno, pushing the irritating author out of the way.

"Not originally," he paused and glanced at the shovel, "but it's not important."

"How long have you been here? Your wheels don't look like they can be repaired."

"I do not keep track of such small amounts of time."

Kureno was puzzled by the strange remark. "You can come with us if you want to; we have room." With that said, Kureno carefully climbed out of the wagon and walked back to his wagon (well, technically Shigure's wagon). Rin, Haru, and Shigure followed.

Halfway there Rin turned and yelled, "Dying never solves anything!"

Shocked by hearing just about the same line again, the man picked up his shovel, a map, and a few other things. He then got out of the wagon and followed them.

On the other side of the Kansas River, Hatori had managed to catch up to Ayame. They were both camped out for the night together. All of the caravaners were sitting around a large camp fire listening to Momiji sing random songs that really weren't camping songs.

"How can Tohru say she likes his singing?" wondered Kyo. Desperate to end this torture, he yelled, "I bet that I can roast marshmallows better than you can!" He pointed at Yuki.

"You're on, stupid cat." He retorted icily.

"Um, guys?" Asked Tohru.

Neither one of them heard her; they were too busy finding sticks.

"HEY!" yelled Hiro.

"Stay out of this, Hiro!" Kyo and Yuki yelled in unison, then glared at each other.

"If you weren't so busy trying to beat each other, then you might have noticed that we don't have any marshmallows!"

"Oh." Said a crestfallen Kyo.

"Stupid cat." Said Yuki.

"If you knew, then why did you accept the challenge?"

"Doesn't look like they're going to stop any time soon." Said Ayame.

"I'M SORRY! I SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT SOME MARSHMALLOWS!!!" yelled none other than Ritsu.

"It's okay, Ritsu, calm down, marshmallows haven't been invented yet." Said Hatori, "Why don't we all get some sleep; those two will be at it all night."

With a bunch of goodnights exchanged, the Sohmas, minus Kyo and Yuki, went to sleep. Tohru stayed up all night watching the two have a marshmallow-roasting contest without any marshmallows.

The next morning found Shigure's wagon on the trail again. Currently Haru was driving and Rin was helping him stay on the road.

"So, Kratos, what happened to the rest of your wagon party?" inquired Shigure.

"Shigure, he does not have to tell us that if he doesn't want to." The voice of reason of the wagon, otherwise known as Kureno, pointed out.

"No, that's all right, I understand his curiosity about how I came to be stranded." Replied the hitchhiker, well, not really a hitchhiker, but you get the point. "It all started what seems like a short while ago when a bright pink light interrupted my current job. All of a sudden, I found myself in a town I'd never seen before. After a strange man gave me instructions of why I was here, he directed me to a house and told me to enter it and wait for my traveling companions. So, I entered the building and waited. It didn't take long before someone knocked at the door. When I opened it, I was shocked when three of my old friends, Yuan, Mithos, and his sister Martel, entered along with our protozoan, or dog, as most people call it. Somehow, our dog was the head of the house and wagon. We didn't waste any time in getting supplies and we set out right after we left the store. The first full day out, Martel got sick with typhoid, as my guidebook told me, and our dog ran off when he saw something moving in the bushes. Mithos went to go search for him and told us he'd meet up with our wagon as soon as we got to the river, which I never reached. The next day, Martel died early in the morning and then Yuan was very sick by the end of the day. He had caught typhoid by taking care of Martel all day and night. Two days later, he went as well. I kept going, starting to lose hope after burying my two friends. I didn't get very far, even though I drove all day and night, before two of my wheels broke on rocks. Since I didn't have any spares, no one was around for me to barter with, and I couldn't repair them, I let the oxen go, accepting what I thought was fate. I climbed into the wagon and awaited the end."

As he finished his story, Shigure blurted, "So you lost your girlfriend?"

"What?" asked a startled Kratos. "Martel was engaged to Yuan!"

"So your best friend got the girl!" said Shigure, not willing to lose this squabble.

"Hey, everyone, we're at the river." Said Haru, quite pleased that he had managed to get there without getting lost.

"Hey there!" someone from the ferry, "do you need a ride?"

"Yes! That would be very nice!" responded Kureno.

"So, your best friend got the girl and he let her die?" nagged Shigure to poor Kratos.

"NO! She wasn't my girlfriend!"

"Oh, does that mean you have a girlfriend?"

"Yes! And I married her!" By saying this, Kratos had only made things worse for himself.

"Does your wife know about this girl?"

Between the heat and the obnoxious author's questions, the normally calm mercenary snapped and a bright circle of light engulfed him, but before anything could happen, time froze except for the wagon's members.

"It seems I've forgotten to tell some rules." It was the old instruction man, who had spontaneously appeared in the wagon in between Shigure and Kratos. "Kratos, you are not allowed to use any magic while playing this game because this world exists on the lowest level of mana possible: one spell would make it crumble and then you'd have a huge lawsuit on your hands."

Kratos made a remark, but it went unheard. The old man had turned to Shigure.

"Shigure and family, yes, your curse is still in effect, but only if you believe it is. I know it sounds cheesy, but we weren't planning on the removal of Akito." He then turned back to Kratos. "You are, however, allowed to do non-mana draining things such as flying. Are we at an understanding?"

None of the five-some said anything.

"Great, now I need to go over to sector T-43, there's a bad case of Jedi warfare, and they've destroyed the surroundings of Independence rock."

Suddenly, time unfroze and Kratos regained his calmness. The old man had vanished.

"Magic? Flying?" the Sohmas wondered as they stared at the auburn haired man.

"Curse? Akito?" Kratos thought, staring at the Sohmas.

"Hey look!" yelled Shigure, breaking the silence, "It's the ferry!"

"It's your choice; sing or sink!" Shigure's caravan had ended up making the same bargain with Kakashi, the ferry-operator, as the other members of the family had earlier. Kakashi handed a slip of paper to Haru with the song name and lyrics scribbled on it.

"How are we supposed to read this?" asked Kureno, who was staring at the chicken scratch on the paper.

"Sorry, I had one of my students write it down for me."

"It's okay… I can read it." Said Haru. He stared at the paper for a while.

"Uh, Haru…?" asked Shigure.

"Yeah?"

"I thought you said you could read it."

"I can."

"Then what's taking so long?"

"I don't know the song."

"Well, you have the words, so start singing!"

"Okay."

Music started playing from an unseen source and everyone started dancing.

_Wait… I know this song._ thought Kratos, but it was too late to change singers as Haru broke into singing 'We Are One' from The Lion King II. It might have sounded good if Haru actually knew how the song went, but he didn't. After the seemingly endless song that made any group of Girl Scouts singing camping songs sound like Celine Dion, laughing was heard from the ferry.

"Hahaha! You guys can't sing!" yelled one of Kakashi's students.

"Naruto!" yelled the girl student as she kicked him over the rails of the ferry and he landed two feet down with a loud 'SPLASH'.

"Hey! That wasn't very nice Sakura!"

Completely ignoring the bickering of his students, Kakashi was talking to the wagon members. "Well, since you're the only group that's actually sung for me, we'll take you across right now." He turned and went to get the ferry ready.

"Uh, thanks…" mumbled the family; all of them (plus Kratos) were very embarrassed. Kratos, perhaps the most embarrassed, wasn't about to admit that he was the one who sung the original version of that song (besides, nobody would believe him).

The ferry crew got the wagon and all of its members safely across; the only injury was when Sakura pushed Naruto back in the river halfway across when he started to laugh again; the injury was mainly a blow to his over-inflated ego.

"We seem to be far behind everyone else." Stated the novelist; he had been told of his relatives' crossing by Kakashi. "If we hadn't gotten lost and Akito hadn't gotten sick, we wouldn't be losing to Hatori!" he continued.   
"Shigure?" asked Kratos, who was now driving the wagon.

"Yes?"

"We need to stop."

"What?"

"We shouldn't be traveling in such foggy conditions. We could get lost."

"But stopping means losing to Hatori and Aaya!"

Kratos had only the faintest idea as to who his rescuer was talking about.

"Wouldn't getting lost add to the distance we need to travel to catch up?"

Shigure was almost about to protest, when Kureno pointed out that it was getting dark anyway and they needed their rest, so they called it a day and stopped.

**Note: **To let you know, airumel, the author of this series (duh) is not actually the one posting this story. As she doesn't have access to a computer, she gave me (the person typing this note) permission to type up and post her story. As of January 15, 2007, this is the last chapter I have received, so it may be a while before another chapter is up. Thank you! Hope you enjoyed!


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